For myself so i never forget and for others, thanks to Carry Flag for this, which i’ve verified enables iMovie 09 to pickup your NAS import and export to it.. thanks be to Terminal commands.
Use at your own risk, try the following command in Terminal;
defaults write -app iMovie allowNV -bool true
The new Apple TV does not get me excited, Airplay does. I may not be the target audience for the new slim Apple TV but if not me, who is? I’m a big fan of Apple since I converted from Microsoft in 2007, and I’ve tried other operating systems like Linux, neither of which I’m planning on moving back to. But disappointment always sets in when I see Apple release new products which fails to get me excited about saving my hard earned cash. Maybe I’m getting older and dishing out on new gadgets is starting to get old, though I doubt it as I’ve just gotten my first iPad, and I’m still buzzing every time I swipe to unlock. Either way, forking out £99 for a device that continues to tie me to iTunes, with all it’s format limitations, when I know better (VLC, Boxee, Plex), is not going to wet my appetite. It certainly isn’t going to convince teenagers who only respond to the words free and share (i.e. bit torrent), neither will it appeal to my mother who can only understand regular Freeview or sky based channel hopping.. Nothing as complicated as renting a film, that would be like walking on the moon for her.
So who is the Apple TV for?
Technology needs advocates to gain traction and like it or not I’m one of them. Apple should give me commissions for the amount of their products I’ve recommended to friends and family who then go on to buy, but i won’t recommend this product I just don’t understand the value of it, unless of course we consider Airplay.. that’s when it starts to make sense. Airplay allows streaming media from any other Airplay enabled device, think DLNA on steroids. We currently rest under the assumption that Airplay will be licensed or is already licensed to be used by third parties like Denon. So now all I have to do is upgrade my Receiver with Airplay included, and I can move contents from my Mac, iPad, iPhone etc to my TV? AWESOME, but wait, is that restricted to contents I’ve got in my iTunes library? –because we all know how boring it is to convert movies prior to importing into iTunes, so boring that only the patient have ever attempted it, and only the super patient and super persistent have ever completed or maintained the import of their movies into iTunes. Which leaves 99.9% of the rest of humanity with no reason to use it.
In addition the cost to buy from iTunes is prohibitive. The film with Kevin Costner Field of Dreams, is currently available on DVD for 3.97GBP on Amazon or 6.99GBP on iTunes… that’s fucking nuts, pardon the language, but its just crazy. A hard copy DVD that requires a manufacturing process, shipping costs, lets not count the carbon cost, costs less than a digital copy? Here you have the failure of iTunes summed up.
Before I conclude I should mention Apple TV also allows you move photos and music from another Apple Device or a PC running iTunes as with the Video already mentioned, but again I’m running a Mac Mini to my TV where I can use VLC or Plex or Boxee to play every video codec on the planet, something iTunes can only dream about. If iTunes isn’t opened up, if it doesn’t start playing other content other than its own, it’s not going to be used by the masses for data management. So perhaps to conclude I should say that Apple TV isn’t the problem, iTunes is the problem. If iTunes was more versatile, the Apple TV would be too.
What’s going on here?
This is what i was greeted with when playing call of duty modern warfare 2. The whole screen froze. After powering off and re-trying several times, the red ring of death appeared. Thankfully the XBOX was still under Microsofts 3 year extended warrantee. it is now with Microsofts service centre in Germany. Previous conversations with friends who’ve had similar problems lead me to believe that the problem will re-occur after about another year, after which it will be out of warrantee and i’ll be buying a playstation 3 slim.
I’m not a huge game player, i don’t want to pay monthly or yearly for a service i will rarely use. As XBOX expands to include facebook and other apps, i’m told i have to be a gold member, i’m not, and don’t plan on being one. Friends tell me the PS3 has a web browser, blue ray player, connects great to mac’s streaming movies, (being recommended over the Apple TV no less). The only thing keeping me from selling my refurbished XBOX in part exchange for a new playstation is project nadal, however i now hear that nadal will use 15% of the XBOX’s processing power, and therefore not work with all existing games, and unlikely to work with those i play. So that too has been brought into question. It seems that Sony’s PS3 has sold 3.5million stations over the christmas 09. i’m seeing a re-surgence in the PS3 that will corner the XBOX into the ‘hardcore online gaming only’ community. the rest of us will be looking for a more rounded product.
There is a reason for everything, we just don’t have all the answers yet.
The Apple TV is ripe for development. Take a look at the hacks (www.appletvhacks.net) to see what the community is doing with this device to see what Apple should be doing with it, or check the wish lists.
I have a Mac mini connected to my JVC HD TV together with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I can check my emails, watch my downloaded tv and film, listen to music whilst browsing the web, and read the morning news whilst drinking my coffee.
Maybe I’m the exception, but my house has more than one TV… I know, its crazy, but even more crazy, I’d really like to have the same functionality as I do on my Mac Mini connected HD TV as I do on my other TV. Maybe in the future I want to buy a TV for the kitchen and repeat the same functionality their too. So what are my options?
1) By a Mac Mini or alternative small foot print computer for each TV? This isn’t a viable option. The cost of a Mac Mini is too high to buy one for each TV.
2) Use Aten 4x DVI Video Splitter together with their DVI extender to push my Mac Mini output onto multiple TV’s? Great as long as you don’t plan to control the second screen. The limited range of Bluetooth will cause problems.
3) By a Apple TV and modify the device to suit your needs? Perhaps for some, the addition of a few extra applications would suffice.
However, I like to think bigger. Take the Apple TV, put modified version of OSX similar to the iPhone OS that allows the Apple TV to install iPhone apps. Now you can have the same applications on your iphone on your Apple TV, including internet, email, streaming video (AirVideo), live TV (EyeTV), VNC (Jaadu VNC), Facebook, skype, photos, music… the lot!
Now build a new app for the iPhone that turns the iPhone into a game pad, keyboard, mouse (controller), with all the benefits of the phones hardware (accelerometer, compass, touchscreen) put to use on your TV. This helps keep the price of the Apple TV down whilst enabling you to increase the functionality of the phone.
